Burger King to buy Popeye's

[GCrites]

Church's chicken is absolutely nasty. I ain't sure there is any kind of QC that can help them. Chicken so greasy that it will soak through the cardboard box, soak any upholstery it is in contact with, & burn the hand holding said box.

[cjk374]

http://www.delish.com/food-news/a51704/popeyes-chicken-change-burger-king-merger/?ref=yfp

[adventurernumber1]

I did not see this coming at all. It is interesting that this new Restaurant Brands International holding company (which already oversaw Burger King and Tim Hortons) has now acquired Popeyes as well. Personally, I love both Burger King and Popeyes (but have never been to Tim Hortons). 


This was originally posted on February 21, 2017 at 11:56:28 PM (as Reply # 2), and originally edited on February 22, 2017 at 12:16:59 AM.


-more input coming soon-

[sparker]

A Tim Horton's opened here in San Jose recently south of SJSU -- but it's gotten terrible Yelp reviews -- particularly from Canadian or East Coast transplants who claim that the place doesn't have Horton donuts, coffee, or even decent service.  Apparently it's an older converted BK outlet.  Since I've had limited contact with the Horton idiom (a couple of brief stops on a 1991 trip to the Maritimes & Quebec), it's not been a priority to visit there -- but it seems if you're going to slap the name on an establishment, it should actually represent what that establishment is noted for!

[wanderer2575]

If the new ownership can address the site-to-site variability of Popeye's outlets, that'll be a good thing!  When I lived down in Hesperia several years back, the two Popeye's outlets (1 in Hesperia off I-15 and the other in Victorville) were, to put it mildly, not places I'd go to twice -- excess grease in the chicken itself (possible undercooking?), soggy fries (both regular & seasoned), and, to top it off, almost hostile service.  Up here in the San Jose area the outlet I've been to is quite good.  I have no idea if the individual stores are company-owned a la In-N-Out, or franchised (like most FF chains).  Either way, the parent company management needs to maintain/enforce some sort of QA.  The basic Popeye's concept is just fine -- if follow-through is applied!

I saw the same deal with Church's Fried Chicken in Louisiana.  There needs to be QC!

Rick

Site to site variability is what comes with franchising.  There's only so much the parent company can do in forcing an independent franchisee to follow the book on operations, regardless of what the contract says.  Some franchisees follow the book religiously, and some think nothing of cutting corners if they think it will turn some extra profit.  On the other side, some franchisors try to screen potential franchisees and keep everyone in line, while others care only about collecting fees and royalties and will let anybody upright and breathing open an outlet.

Even with the best intentions, there's (unavoidable?) variance from store to store and even from person to person.  The more prep and assembly done at each location, the more room for variance, especially with items weighed vs. items counted.  A McDonald's Quarter Pounder is one bun, one patty, two pickle slices, two cheese slices (all pre-made from quality-controlled suppliers), squirts of ketchup and mustard from measured dispensers, and a bit of onion.  Very little room for variance.  But your taco or burrito from Taco Bell, or your pizza from Little Caesars, can vary wildly depending on the location, the day, or the alignment of the planets.

[Max Rockatansky]

A Tim Horton's opened here in San Jose recently south of SJSU -- but it's gotten terrible Yelp reviews -- particularly from Canadian or East Coast transplants who claim that the place doesn't have Horton donuts, coffee, or even decent service.  Apparently it's an older converted BK outlet.  Since I've had limited contact with the Horton idiom (a couple of brief stops on a 1991 trip to the Maritimes & Quebec), it's not been a priority to visit there -- but it seems if you're going to slap the name on an establishment, it should actually represent what that establishment is noted for!

That's ironic, you'd think they would take a lesson from Target and how they did the same thing in Canada. Basically people actually expect a certain product from you based on your image and know when something is watered down. 

[Rothman]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

[oscar]

A Tim Horton's opened here in San Jose recently south of SJSU -- but it's gotten terrible Yelp reviews -- particularly from Canadian or East Coast transplants who claim that the place doesn't have Horton donuts, coffee, or even decent service.  Apparently it's an older converted BK outlet.  Since I've had limited contact with the Horton idiom (a couple of brief stops on a 1991 trip to the Maritimes & Quebec), it's not been a priority to visit there -- but it seems if you're going to slap the name on an establishment, it should actually represent what that establishment is noted for!

Ugh. Tim's in Canada obsess over the coffee. How can they not bring that to a California location?

What I really want from a Tim's out west is breakfast sandwiches, especially since in the U.S. McD's selection is worse out west than in the east (for example, no bagel sandwiches -- Tim's out east and in Canada have better bagels, but McDs in the eastern U.S. have better steak breakfast bagels). It doesn't sound like I should count on that, either, next time I'm out there and find a Tim's.

BTW, my first experience with breakfast bagel sandwiches was long ago at a Burger King, but they soon dropped that product. I complained to the "Burger Queen" (college classmate who then was a BK senior VP, and its highest-ranking female executive), but to no avail.

[vdeane]

I was afraid the Tim Hortons brand would start to be watered down when Burger King took over.  Sad to see I was right.

[Max Rockatansky]

I was afraid the Tim Hortons brand would start to be watered down when Burger King took over.  Sad to see I was right.

Actually Tim Hortons is the parent company in the merger.  But to your point a lower standard could easily creep into a company with a higher one in a merger.  I always thought Sears slid down to Kmart level post merger where the latter was the dominant party.  The ironic thing was in that instance Sears Holding tried to wash away the Kmart name with Sears Grand/Essentials but all it did was knock the Sears brand down another peg.  I'm sure there are other notable examples of the same thing happening in mergers.

[cjk374]

I was afraid the Tim Hortons brand would start to be watered down when Burger King took over.  Sad to see I was right.

Actually Tim Hortons is the parent company in the merger.  But to your point a lower standard could easily creep into a company with a higher one in a merger.  I always thought Sears slid down to Kmart level post merger where the latter was the dominant party.  The ironic thing was in that instance Sears Holding tried to wash away the Kmart name with Sears Grand/Essentials but all it did was knock the Sears brand down another peg.  I'm sure there are other notable examples of the same thing happening in mergers.

Mergers can be blessings, & they can be curses. When the Union Pacific bought the Southern Pacific in 1997, it created massive gridlock nationwide because the UP way didn't work on the SP system. It took a few years before successful adjustments could be made by the UP to correctly absorb & operate their acquisition. I started working for my railroad in July 2002. We interchange with the UP at McNeil, AR which is on the former Cotton Belt/SP mainline. The merger was 5 years old then & they were still gridlocked with trains that couldn't move. Crews were being taxiied to the trains, sitting in the cab for almost 10-12 hours, then being taxiied back after moving the train 0 miles.

It was a mess.

[sparker]

I was afraid the Tim Hortons brand would start to be watered down when Burger King took over.  Sad to see I was right.

Actually Tim Hortons is the parent company in the merger.  But to your point a lower standard could easily creep into a company with a higher one in a merger.  I always thought Sears slid down to Kmart level post merger where the latter was the dominant party.  The ironic thing was in that instance Sears Holding tried to wash away the Kmart name with Sears Grand/Essentials but all it did was knock the Sears brand down another peg.  I'm sure there are other notable examples of the same thing happening in mergers.

Mergers can be blessings, & they can be curses. When the Union Pacific bought the Southern Pacific in 1997, it created massive gridlock nationwide because the UP way didn't work on the SP system. It took a few years before successful adjustments could be made by the UP to correctly absorb & operate their acquisition. I started working for my railroad in July 2002. We interchange with the UP at McNeil, AR which is on the former Cotton Belt/SP mainline. The merger was 5 years old then & they were still gridlocked with trains that couldn't move. Crews were being taxiied to the trains, sitting in the cab for almost 10-12 hours, then being taxiied back after moving the train 0 miles.

It was a mess.

Absolutely right about the UP/SP mess.  I remember back in 1997-98, after I moved back to the LA area from Portland (not my choice; family health issues) and seeing rail traffic backed up from all 3 entrances to their Colton yard hub to the point that the main lines were virtual parking lots.  UP's hierarchical top-down management style just didn't sit well with longtime SP employees, who were used to a flatter "pyramid" where individual geographical divisions had been given considerable autonomy provided certain corporate criteria were being met.  They lost a lot of dispatchers and conductors during that period to the point where formerly office-bound UP managers were actually running trains (at least the company knew better than to piss off the engineers -- and their union -- on a wholesale basis!).  There were still residual effects of these issues for most of the next decade; when I was working in Ontario from 2003 to 2010 I commuted on I-10 next to the Colton yard and its lead tracks -- and more often than not, there were still 2-3 trains, on average, backed up from all 3 directions (L.A., Palmdale, and Indio) waiting to enter the yard leads.  Not a good time, despite the good pay, to be a UP dispatcher!   

[Stephane Dumas]

Slightly off-topic, is the US restaurant hit a structural recession? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-26/us-restaurant-recession-becoming-structural

[sparker]

What I really want from a Tim's out west is breakfast sandwiches, especially since in the U.S. McD's selection is worse out west than in the east (for example, no bagel sandwiches -- Tim's out east and in Canada have better bagels, but McDs in the eastern U.S. have better steak breakfast bagels). It doesn't sound like I should count on that, either, next time I'm out there and find a Tim's.

BTW, my first experience with breakfast bagel sandwiches was long ago at a Burger King, but they soon dropped that product. I complained to the "Burger Queen" (college classmate who then was a BK senior VP, and its highest-ranking female executive), but to no avail.

About the only place I've found that has decent bagel sandwiches is Noah's (all over CA) and Bruegger's (SoCal); their bagels are real boiled/baked types and their sandwich material is usually fresh.  Brueggers near the Ontario mall was a regular lunch spot when I worked down there.  Can be a tad pricey (especially if you get the lox)!

[oscar]

About the only place I've found that has decent bagel sandwiches is Noah's (all over CA) and Bruegger's (SoCal); their bagels are real boiled/baked types and their sandwich material is usually fresh.  Brueggers near the Ontario mall was a regular lunch spot when I worked down there.  Can be a tad pricey (especially if you get the lox)!

There are some Bruegger's in the D.C. area, one a short bus ride from me in Arlington. I'll have to try it out. Normally, it not having a drive-thru would be a problem, but not while I'm recovering from eye surgery and mostly hoofing it for a few more weeks.

[kphoger]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Better yet...   How can you have any restaurant anywhere without coffee?

[Brandon]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Better yet...   How can you have any restaurant anywhere without coffee?

Easily.  Coffee takes like crap to some of us.  I can do without twigs and leaves..er..tea of any sort.

[oscar]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Better yet...   How can you have any restaurant anywhere without coffee?

Easily.  Coffee takes like crap to some of us.  I can do without twigs and leaves..er..tea of any sort.

As a Diet Pepsi addict -- even for breakfast -- I can do without it too, but obviously that's a minority preference. Certainly I feel like an outlier when I go to a Tim's and don't order coffee.

[sparker]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Out here in San Jose, donut shops are more common than Starbucks or Subways!  Got a couple of local chains that do good stuff (Manley and Yum Yum) plus scores of independents.  So not having Timmies' versions is not something to really kvetch about! 

[kphoger]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Better yet...   How can you have any restaurant anywhere without coffee?

Easily.  Coffee takes like crap to some of us.  I can do without twigs and leaves..er..tea of any sort.

As a Diet Pepsi addict -- even for breakfast -- I can do without it too, but obviously that's a minority preference. Certainly I feel like an outlier when I go to a Tim's and don't order coffee.

I don't drink coffee either.  Or, more precisely, I drink coffee maybe five times a year, and I make sure there's enough other stuff in it that it's more a hot coffee-flavored beverage than actual coffee.

But so many people live on coffee, I can't imagine running a restaurant without offering it on the menu.  There have be a lot of people that would simply never return because they can't get coffee.

[cl94]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Better yet...   How can you have any restaurant anywhere without coffee?

Easily.  Coffee takes like crap to some of us.  I can do without twigs and leaves..er..tea of any sort.

As a Diet Pepsi addict -- even for breakfast -- I can do without it too, but obviously that's a minority preference. Certainly I feel like an outlier when I go to a Tim's and don't order coffee.

I don't drink coffee either.  Or, more precisely, I drink coffee maybe five times a year, and I make sure there's enough other stuff in it that it's more a hot coffee-flavored beverage than actual coffee.

But so many people live on coffee, I can't imagine running a restaurant without offering it on the menu.  There have be a lot of people that would simply never return because they can't get coffee.

I have a Keurig in my office...for tea and hot chocolate. I can't stand coffee unless it's part of a flavored beverage (read: Frappuccino).

[jeffandnicole]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Better yet...   How can you have any restaurant anywhere without coffee?

Easily.  Coffee takes like crap to some of us.  I can do without twigs and leaves..er..tea of any sort.

As a Diet Pepsi addict -- even for breakfast -- I can do without it too, but obviously that's a minority preference. Certainly I feel like an outlier when I go to a Tim's and don't order coffee.

I don't drink coffee either.  Or, more precisely, I drink coffee maybe five times a year, and I make sure there's enough other stuff in it that it's more a hot coffee-flavored beverage than actual coffee.

But so many people live on coffee, I can't imagine running a restaurant without offering it on the menu.  There have be a lot of people that would simply never return because they can't get coffee.

I remember reading a story about the Veggie Whopper. BK rarely sells them, but they have them to be "veto-proof". If mom is looking for a place to take the kids and someone is a vegetarian, she can satisfy the burger and chicken eaters while the vegetarian family member still has an option.

Coffee...same thing. If a couple, family or group wants to go someplace and they don't serve coffee...even decaf...someone is bound to veto that place.

BTW...in reference to Keriugs...Buffalo Wild Wings has a Keriug at their bar.  If you want a coffee drink, it's gonna be from a K-cup.

[Rothman]

How can you have a Timmies without donuts?

Out here in San Jose, donut shops are more common than Starbucks or Subways!  Got a couple of local chains that do good stuff (Manley and Yum Yum) plus scores of independents.  So not having Timmies' versions is not something to really kvetch about!

Then what would draw you to Tim Horton's if they moved into your area?  If the answer is "nothing," then it goes along with my point that the business may be hollowed out beyond viability.

[oscar]

About the only place I've found that has decent bagel sandwiches is Noah's (all over CA) and Bruegger's (SoCal); their bagels are real boiled/baked types and their sandwich material is usually fresh.  Brueggers near the Ontario mall was a regular lunch spot when I worked down there.  Can be a tad pricey (especially if you get the lox)!

There are some Bruegger's in the D.C. area, one a short bus ride from me in Arlington. I'll have to try it out. Normally, it not having a drive-thru would be a problem, but not while I'm recovering from eye surgery and mostly hoofing it for a few more weeks.

I went there this morning. Not as pricey as I had feared. Decent product, including a better bagel thsn McD's. Still inconvenient for me when I'm mobile, but while I'm not I'll go back there.

[kphoger]

I remember reading a story about the Veggie Whopper. BK rarely sells them, but they have them to be "veto-proof". If mom is looking for a place to take the kids and someone is a vegetarian, she can satisfy the burger and chicken eaters while the vegetarian family member still has an option.

Sounds more like BK offering a vegetarian option so they can include it in their shareholders' corporate responsibility report.